1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that is capable of N-up printing where information for N pages of document information is printed on a single output page.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional image forming apparatuses including printers are in two types: The first is one in which inputted image data is output in sequence, and the second is one in which inputted image is temporarily stored in a memory of the apparatus and is then printed out in sequence in response to a command to output the image data. An example of the second type is a printer that performs secure printing. In secure printing, a printer receives a print job having authentication information over a communication line such as a network. The print job is stored into a memory section such as a hard disk. The authentication information is inputted from the operation panel of the printer. Printing is performed only when the authentication information coincides with the information previously stored in the memory.
Conventional image forming apparatuses suffer from a problem in that once a print job is stored into the apparatus, the image format to be printed out cannot be altered.